The Underwoods moved to the Highland Street area of Orangeburg about six months ago. A quiet neighborhood home to retirees and middle-aged residents, Highland Street is a block or two removed from Boulevard Street and a business district.
"And I said, 'Let's get acquainted with the neighbors,'" Kathleen Underwood said. "Then the bank was robbed, and we said, 'We NEED to get acquainted with the neighbors!'"
The idea of a Neighborhood Watch program has appealed to their sense of security since the Oct. 30 robbery of the Boulevard Street branch of the State Credit Union. Police are still looking for the man who ran through a residential area after alleging he had a bomb.
That got Underwood to thinking harder about getting to know her neighbors. She said in the wake of the robbery, she's decided to gather the 23 families of Highland and Lattimore streets with the goal of starting a neighborhood program.
"That's what I want to do," Underwood said. "But getting started is the hard part."
Across town, Novice Sampson, the owner and manager of an 84-unit apartment complex on Douglas MacArthur Street, wanted to combat a growing number of burglaries. Without help, she's been passing out leaflets to tenants, which inform them of the month's actual crime or suspicious incidents.
Sampson has now sought the help of local law enforcement and, like Underwood, has taken the s.jpg toward establishing a Neighborhood Watch in her area as well.
Like the flag raising at Iwo Jima, the official Neighborhood Watch sign went up earlier this week over the Douglas MacArthur Street neighborhood.
"I just want everybody to know that they need to watch out for each other," Sampson said. "We want to make our area as safe as it can be."
According to the National Crime Prevention Council, starting a Neighborhood Watch isn't that difficult. All that is needed, police say, is a desire to keep your neighborhood free from crime, an organization and vigilance.
"Anyone who is involved in criminal activity doesn't want to be detected, they don't want to be caught," Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Chief Wendell Davis said. "If you increase the likelihood of that person ultimately being captured, you've prevented a possible crime, and everything else will fall into place."
Nationally, the Neighborhood Watch program was launched in 1972, counting on citizens to organize themselves, work with law enforcement and keep a trained eye on their communities.
Sponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association, Neighborhood Watch traces its roots back to the days of colonial settlements, when night watchmen patrolled the streets.
Officials say Neighborhood Watch works because it reduces opportunities for crime to occur. It doesn't rely on altering or changing the criminal's behavior or motivation.
The program doesn't rely on set rules or guidelines, officials say. Each neighborhood can create its own watch program that most suits its needs.
"It's their program, not ours," said ODPS Sgt. Aqkwele Polidore, a crime prevention specialist. "We just help you get started."
One of the nearly dozen existing programs in the city is that of Treadwell Street, which has been at it for nearly 15 years.
This area of mostly retirees, with a smattering of younger couples, once had trouble with parties and loud music, community leader the Rev. Robert Ford said.
But that was seven or eight years ago. Since then, crime has dropped to nearly nothing, he said.
"We have to stay right on it," Ford said. "The main thing is we remain alert and stick together. Nothing goes on. This is a good neighborhood."
Polidore confirmed that once a Neighborhood Watch group is started in an area, police have noted that crime numbers in that area drop significantly.
"Once you put one in, we don't have any crime," in that particular neighborhood, she said.
The key to that success, officials say, is vigilance -- constant guard watching for anyone suspicious entering the area.
Davis said each and every member of the neighborhood group should call police immediately in the event an unknown vehicle or person is observed. No one has to give their name, leaving no chance for retribution.
"We like to have multiple calls about an incident, and we're not going to discern who was involved in calling," Davis said. " So, if there's an atmosphere of the entire neighborhood calling, it's (criminals saying) 'Look, we're not going in that neighborhood.'"
Anyone interested in forming their own Neighborhood Watch group can call their local law enforcement agency for assistance. The ODPS can be reached at 803-308-2228. The Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office can be reached at 803-531-4647.
"We are only going to be as successful as the level of concern we have," Davis said.
T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.